Dr. George Flesh decided to stop performing abortions. He said the following:
“Extracting a fetus, piece by piece, was bad for my sleep. Depression clouded my office day when I had an abortion scheduled. My pulse raced after giving the local anesthetic. Although I still felt sorry for the unmarried 20-year-old college junior, I felt increasing anger toward the married couples who requested abortions because a law firm partnership was imminent, or house remodeling was incomplete, or even because summer travel tickets were paid for.
Anxiety attacks, complete with nausea, palpitations and dizziness, began to strike me in some social situations. In public, I felt I was on trial, or perhaps should have been. I no longer was proud to be a physician. Arriving home from work to the embrace of my kids, I felt undeserving that God had blessed me with their smiling faces. The morning shave became an ordeal, as I stared at the sad face in the mirror and wondered how all those awards and diplomas had produced an Angel of death.”
“Tearing a developed fetus apart, limb by limb, is an act of depravity that society should not permit. We cannot afford such a devaluation of human life, nor the desensitization of medical personnel it requires. This is not based on what the fetus might feel but on what we should feel in watching an exquisite, partly formed human being being dismembered.”
Dr. Flesh talked about the experience he had that led to him quitting abortion practice:
“… a married couple came to me and requested an abortion. Because the patient’s cervix was rigid, I was unable to dilate it and perform the procedure. I asked her to return in a week, when the cervix would be softer.
The couple returned and told me that they had changed their minds and wanted to “keep the baby.” I delivered the baby seven months later. Years later, I played with little Jeffrey in the pool at the tennis club where his parents and I were members. He was happy and beautiful. I was horrified to think that only a technical obstacle had prevented me from terminating Jeffrey’s potential life. The connection between the six-week-old human embryo and a laughing child stopped being an abstraction for me. While hugging my sons each morning, I started to think of the vacuum aspirator that I would use two hours later.”
….
“[After saying that abortion should not be illegal] but I am revolted when I see how casually some couples choose an abortion – for the convenience of having a baby in June instead of February, for example. I do not believe that a civilized society should encourage this.”
“Since I stopped doing abortions, my life has blossomed. I love my practice. Years of struggling guilt have ended. A certain calm and inner peace have returned. I feel closer to God.”
George Flesh “the Spiritual Cost of Abortion” Originally an Editorial in the Los Angeles Times, 1994 in Gary E McCuen Abortion Violence & Extremism (Hudson, Wisconsin: GEM Publications, 1997) 76-79
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